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- Date Released: January 1, 1976
- Genre: Electronic
- Label: Disques Dreyfus / Idol Distribution
This French synth wiz was quite possibly the most revolutionary popular musician of his time.
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We Say...
It’s often forgotten that at the height of the mid-'70s punk media frenzy, the artists who sold records in significant quantities were not punks. Mainstream rockers like Fleetwood Mac and flat-out popsters like Debbie Boone ruled the roost. And right up alongside them was Jean Michel Jarre — arguably the most revolutionary popular musician of that period.
The son of revered film score composer Maurice Jarre (Dr. Zhivago, Lawrence of Arabia), Jean Michel was a French synthesiser wiz with a penchant for writing lengthy instrumental suites. It’s hard now to convey the shock of experiencing Oxygene for the first time, but to hear those extended electronic arpeggios, those unidentifiable sounds and curiously mutated quasi-orchestral textures flowing out of a radio in 1976 was like discovering champagne after a lifetime of diet cola.
Even as someone already in thrall to Kraftwerk, Tangerine Dream and Ashra, and as an early devotee of US pioneers like Tonto’s Expanding Head Band, it had never occurred to me that someone could make a 100% electronic music album that the public would lap up. Where Jarre got it right was in his determination to make the music as accessible as it was innovative. He harnessed state-of-the-art electronics to create danceable beats and rhythms overlaid with majestic sweeping melodies that anybody could get at first listen.
It's three decades later, and the technology has moved on — pop music now swims in an ocean of electronics — but the slowly evolving "Oxygene 1" still sets a mood of mysterious anticipation, the uplifting melodic chime of "4" sounds daisy fresh and the stately baroque adagio of "5" remains hauntingly lovely. It’s an over-statement to claim that Jarre changed popular music forever, but he certainly played a significant part. For a while there, he was the sound of tomorrow. -
They Say...
Jean Michel Jarre, son of film composer Maurice Jarre, is one of the true pioneers of electronic music. Oxygene is one of the original e-music albums. It has withstood the test of time and the evolution of digital electronica. Jarre's compositional style and his rhythmic instincts were his strong points in 1976. While his popularity has escalated exponentially over the years, he never quite achieved the quality of this amazing recording. The innocence and freshness provide most of its charm. Jarre's techniques and ability provide the rest. This epic CD will appeal to fans of Tonto's Expanding HeadBand, Tangerine Dream, Synergy, Kraftwerk, and Klaus Schulze.
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| 01. |  |
Oxygène Part I |
7:40 |
|
| 02. | |
Oxygène Part II |
8:08 |
|
| 03. | |
Oxygène Part III |
2:54 |
|
| 04. | |
Oxygène IV |
4:14 |
|
| 05. | |
Oxygène Part V |
10:23 |
|
| 06. | |
Oxygène Part VI |
6:20 |
|
06 Total Tracks, 39:39 Total Length
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